This a wild ferment of lemons that creates a delicious probiotic juice perfect for adding to your water. It should help correct body biome problems.
1. Buy 10-12 lemons with no wax on the skin 2. Wash hands and sterilize quart canning jars, a knife, cutting board, and a potato masher or similar with boiling water 3. Cut lemons part way through into fourths but don’t cut all the way through the lemon, and press them open like a flower 4. Sprinkle salt, I like to use pink Himalayan, but you can use any kind of natural salt (NOT “table salt,” because it usually has additives), generously all over each lemon and fill the centers of the lemon “flowers” 5. Pile these into the sterilized jar, after each 2-3 lemons, add another teaspoon or 2 of salt. Mash down with potato masher until you get some good lemon juice. The lemons need to be covered with lemon juice, if there is not enough juice by smashing, squeeze another lemon into the jar 6. Put a loose lid on the jars and let sit in a warm place for 3-4 weeks. To avoid messy spills, put jars into a 9×13 glass pan. Check on your ferments every few days, throw out if you ever see mold, make sure the lemons stay submerged in the brine (lemon juice and salt). At the end, it should have a slightly alcoholic lemon taste. Actual alcohol content is negligible. This should keep “forever” in the fridge.
When we left the mold house, we had to throw away our wedding album. However, my husband had the foresight to take digital photos of all the album pages (outside). That way, someday when we got new non-mold contaminated photos, I could decorate them again, the way I originally had. The Christmas after we left the mold house, my parents in-law touched my heart by getting me a new album and new copies of all of their photos of our wedding. They even found a service program from our wedding, all mold free and wonderful. When we left the mold house, we were mainly able to keep some glass things, my porcelain teacups, a few electronics (wiping them down), and DVDs (by throwing away the cases). In the first townhouse after the mold house, I spent three weeks burning VHS tapes onto DVDs, mostly home videos. Over the years, both when leaving the mold house and other times when contamination happened, we have enjoyed taking photos of things we had to pitch. It’s a great way to still enjoy memories or the look of an item while still pitching it and the mold spores and toxins stuck to it, so they can’t poison or infect anyone. Some things I was very sad to leave behind were the homemade quilts my friends and I had made for my babies. But at least I still have a photo I can enjoy. This quilt was my favorite, because we used leftover fabric from my favorite shirt in high school, my bridesmaid dress from my sister’s wedding, even a piece of a skirt I had made for myself in 7th grade.
So why in the world did I write a journaling book? Well, mainly one reason, my friends wanted it. Many contributed ideas and thoughts. I picked the best of these and put them in the book. It’s not totally true that I hate journaling, just in my life it’s more like “talking to my best friends” instead of journaling. But I do think it can be a helpful practice. For me, part of what gets in the way of journaling is perfectionism, and once I get it down on paper it seems “permanent,” but it’s not really. I can do anything I want with it, including tear it into bits, LOL. These journal prompts and assignments may be helpful especially if you’ve been through mold illness (as mold illness in particular usually entails a LOT of loss of possessions as well as loss of friendships, family, home, and community) but I think the prompts can be helpful for anyone who has been through any chronic illness, other losses or traumas, or grief. In this journal, you will finds prompts, assignments, ideas, and pretty art/photos. I hope it helps you along your journey of recovery.
All Ages Together: Mad-Libs There are many books of Mad-Libs available in stores and online. If your family cannot handle printer’s ink, you can write your own. Or take a fairy tale and add blanks such as this: Once upon a time there was a beautiful ____(noun)_______ . They lived in a ____(adjective)_________ forest with their pet ____(noun)______ . One day they put on their ____(color) riding hoods and _____ (verb)_____ to their grandmother’s ___ (noun)_____.
Silly Sentences Kind of like Madlibs only simpler after the cards are done. Have your oldest child write different nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs index cards (one word on each card) and label them on the back side. Put in piles. Shuffle. Then pick one of each. It may end up something like: Darth Vader ate a happy frog. Sometimes the kids ended up laughing hysterically.
Simon Says with the youngest child in charge.
If you have internet—online quizzes. They have everything from TV show quizzes to Bible quizzes to character quizzes—“Which Lord of the Rings character are you?” (etc.) It’s a computer thing yet can promote fun interactions between the kids.
Have the kids make video clips (act out stories like fairy tales, veggie tales, or their favorite books or movies—either real acting or using paper finger puppets: It could even be the kids act out a story while the oldest reads it aloud, sing, tell jokes, tell or read stories, do goofy stuff like making faces, do magic tricks). When they have a lot of clips, put them together into a DVD for Grandparents’ Christmas.
Have them make their own bingo cards and play for rocks, feathers, or other wilderness finds.
Secret bag: Take turns filling with stuff, others reach in and guess what the stuff is (with rules like no dog doo LOL).
Take photos of anything and everything (One of our kids’ favorites was lots of selfies with goofy faces).
Younger children:
Try a combination of something audio (music, audio book) and something sensory (pan of dry rice with plastic jewels hidden, playdough, etc.)
Pour out a good amount of Elmer’s glue on glass or metal (pie pan), add drops of food coloring, let them drag a toothpick through, stir it up, etc. Can let dry and peel off for a weird “blob.” Of course can add rocks or whatever. Good “paperweight” for grandpa for Christmas 😀
Sticker art on Dad 😊 (only on clothes, not on skin or hair unless Dad doesn’t mind)
Digital art (last I checked, the Fresh Paint app was free)
Pound golf tees into foam blocks/old/defunct foam coolers
Match-box cars
Ask them “How do you ________” (make brownies, shop for groceries, cook supper, find a rock, etc. ) and type up their answers. Can be adorable. One of ours wrote:
How to Make Flat Bread, by Sarah, age 6
You push it flat and then sprinkle sugar and flour on. And then you put salt on, and then you put chocolate chips on, and then you melt it for 3 hours. And then you flip it back and forth. And then you take it out and put it on a plate and cut it into ¾. And then you chop onions and put ‘em on and then put it back in to the ¾. And then you take it out put muffins on it, and then you eat it with your friends.
Older Children: .
The dot game, Hangman, Yahtzee (keep score on regular paper), and 20 questions
Chopped, like the TV show—they get a couple secret ingredients and have to make lunch
Crafting, paper piecing, knitting, crochet, origami, beading—can make gifts for others, tiny quilts for Legos, etc.
Mixed-up Game: make up their own game with random game pieces (at least that’s how our RV ended up) OR rocks, marbles, grass, etc.
Learn magic tricks or card tricks (probably will need the internet or a good book for these)
Amazon took down my comments and will not let me rebut her review below her review like they used to, so here is my rebuttal:
This is NOT a “recipe for mould,” and in the 6+ years we have lived here, we have had only one tiny bit 6 ” by 2″ of mold growth on the house sill, and that was due to the clothes washer drain pipe freezing up (in -25 degrees Fahrenheit) and subsequently overflowing into the wall. The wall was re-plastered, the insulation dried, and all was well in less than a month. The TINY bit of mold on the Douglas Fir house sill was sliced off with a planer and the nearly minuscule part 2″ by 4″ we could not reach with the planer was taped with a tiny piece of foil tape (foil blocks both mold spores and mycotoxins if the mold is even producing any).
But my bigger point is that the tiny bit of mold that DID grow was because of a washer accident, *NOT* because of a house design problem or a “vapor barrier mistake.” In fact, an interior vapor barrier could have made the problem MUCH worse because it would have trapped moisture inside the wall instead of allowing the moisture to come through the plaster wall (for us to see the problem and fix it within a week, and then of course we insulated the drain pipe better). And also a vapor barrier would not have allowed the plaster to just dry completely as it did (and even most of the insulation was nearly dry and was able to finish drying inside the house and be re-used).
HEre is a link to the wall experiments we did: https://www.blackhillspicturebooks.com/2016/11/17/metal-siding-wall-stats/
My best guess for “Why” we have had no problems with humidity in our walls (or mold) for over 8 years is that diffusion (of humidity through thick (ish) plaster and 6 inches of wool insulation is such a slow process that just simply, not enough humidity makes it to the cold interior surface of the metal siding to caause any problems and what little tiny bit does make it there just warms up (eventually) and evaporates up the steel ribs or gets the wool insulation a TINY bit wet and then just simply dries out (and we don’t let humidity sit around in here at all. Maybe if we had an indoor swimming pool or hot tub. LOL
For an all-natural, probiotic drink with antioxidants and resveratrol (add the juice to water after done).
Thaw
(If using frozen berries which we do, to potentially reduce moldiness and contamination from scents etc. at the store.)
Weigh
Weigh the berries to see how much they weigh so you can add the right amount of salt.
Salt
(Add salt in the amount of 2% of the weight of the berries.) Sea salt or pink himalayan salt can have some advantages over “table salt” (not for the fermentation necessarily but for the NON addition of stuff.
Mix
Mix the salt and berries with a “sterilized” (pour boiling water over) metal or bamboo utensil.
Jar
Pour all berries and salt into a sterilized jar.
Weigh down
Add fermentation weights to the jar, put the jar lid on tightly. We love these weights https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086WT2KTV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Get Your Set-up
Place jars in a baking pan in case they overflow with juice/brine while fermenting. Set jars/pans in a warm place (like the top of your refrigerator.) Wait a week. I usually pour about a tablespoon in 8 oz. of water and drink, refreshing and so helpful for gut, digestion, detox, body biome.
Warning
If you have any sign of mold growth, discard mixture. When done, mixture should smell good and slightly “winey,” not bad at all. DO NOT drink or use if mixture looks, smells, or tastes “off.”
One day, we heard a sermon from one of the best and most godly pastors we have ever known. This was 20 years ago, and I remember it almost like it was yesterday!! What is beauty? What is value? How do we know that we, as human beings, are valuable?
The pastor pulled out a twenty dollar bill. Waved it high for all to see. Then he crumpled it, stomped on it, squished it. Then he asked who wanted it. An older lady said she would take it! He said, “Why?” “It’s all messed up and crumpled.”
With tears in her eyes, she said, “Because it still has value.”
You might have been abused, kicked (figuratively or literally), shunned, rejected even by your own mother, “stomped on” by kids in school, your own family, your spouse, or anyone else.
But all of these things does not mean you have lost your value. Just as a dollar is still worth a dollar even crumpled, you are still of inestimable value.
Even if you feel like no one sees your worth, God does.
From 2007 to 2010, I suffered accidental Toxic Injury (also called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity or Environmental Illness). But, the forced time in bed has given me time to write. It has been such a blessing to work on my children's books and stories!
I love: God, family & friends, outdoors, gardening, animals, writing, reading, photography, cooking, music, dance, bare feet, long skirts, lavender & yellow, and chocolate.
If you would like to support further blog posts and writing from me, you can become a patron by signing up on my Patreon creator page.
Patreon does not have an option for a one-time gift, but you can sign up and then cancel later. I would be happy for you to have the listed rewards even for support for only one month. :)
